Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 December 2023
Owing to the discord stirred up among the people, as we have mentioned, and to the efforts of those who supported it to promote their point of view, the queen was plunged into deep reflections mixed with an element of fear. Not only was she unsure of how the Master wished to proceed in her regard, but also she feared the city dwellers, both men and women, who, as she knew, spoke against her very harshly. For these reasons she was uncertain of the best way in which to preserve her life and honour. Having considered many different possibilities she concluded that the best solution for the time being was to leave the city for somewhere safer. She then decided to make for a town of hers called Alenquer, some 8 leagues distant from Lisbon.
She left mid-morning, accompanied by all the ladies and damsels of her household and by all her supporters, namely: Count João Afonso, her brother; the Master of Santiago, Dom Fernando Afonso; the Admiral Master Lançarote; Gonçalo Mendes de Vasconcelos, the queen's uncle; Martim Gonçalves de Ataíde; Pedro Lourenço de Távora; João Afonso Pimentel; Vasco Peres de Camões; Aires Vasques de Alvalade; João Gonçalves [Teixeira], commander-in-chief of the crossbowmen; and Lourenço Eanes Fogaça. She was also accompanied by all King Fernando's ministers, such as Álvaro Gonçalves, the comptroller of finances, Gil Eanes, the chief justice, and many other criados of the queen and of King Fernando.
As for Dom Yehuda, the king's former chief treasurer and comptroller of finances, who was afraid of the people owing to the huge grievances which he had caused them when he had occupied those offices, he dared not venture out in public quite as other people would. He put an arming cap on his head and took hold of a lance, as if he were a page, so as not to be recognised.
Basquin [de Sola] and Martin-Paul, two Gascons who had remained from King Fernando's day, brought up the rear, along with a number of lances, to protect the mules, for fear that the people of Lisbon would be on their heels.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.